Christmas Lost
by Gottaluvit
Summary: A series of drabble sets that tell the story of one Christmas with the Arrow family..Arsenal is late home Christmas day..it's angst, but its a Christmas fic so I'll say no more.
1. Chapter 1

I'm useing a different format for this fic, something that a couple of other terrific writers have been doing on Lj recently.

Basically it will be told in a series of 100 to 200 word drabbles in sets of 3, fitting certain challenge prompt's, each with it's own title, and culminating in a couple of longer fic sized parts.

**The series is titled** -**Christmas Lost**

**Title**- Cold  
**Characters**- Arsenal  
**Prompt**- 051 Late  
**DC owns him  
Rated M **

He was bound so tight he couldn't feel his hands or his feet..his breath came in short, desperate gasps as he struggled to breathe.

They'd just left him, knowing the cold would get him, if his injuries didn't.

He knew he didn't have long, the only thing that had stopped him bleeding out completely was the frigid air..what had spared his life so far, would take it away from him soon, if help didn't come.

He knew she'd be waiting, expecting him to walk in the door any minute. They'd be trying to keep her from opening her presents till he got there.._if_ he got there.

**Title**- Excited  
**Characters**- Lian  
**Prompt**- 082 Innocence  
**DC owns her  
Rated M  
**

She was so excited she could hardly sit still. She knew he'd be home soon. She counted all the presents that had her name on them once more, and made sure the one she had for him was right on top of the pile.

Her daddy would be so proud of the picture frame she'd made him at school, she'd been good at keeping it a secret..He was going to love it.

Her Uncle Ollie said she had to wait till her daddy got home, but he was late, and waiting was hard.

Still, he'd be here in a minute, just a minute..she could wait _that _long.

A minute wasn't very long..was it?

**Title**- Worried  
**Characters**- Ollie, and the Arrow family  
**Prompt**- 048 Disturbed  
**DC owns them  
Rated M **

He didn't like this...

There was no way he should have been detained this long. He'd never make his baby girl wait like this.

He plastered a fake smile on his face as she asked him again when her dad would be coming...told her_ 'in a minute_', even though his gut told him it was a lie.

A glance at Connor and Mia told him they were just as disturbed by his boy's lateness as he was. He should call Dinah, not wait for her to arrive at lunch time.

He _never _should have asked Roy to check into this case for him. He'd never forgive himself if things had gone badly.


	2. Chapter 2

"Christmas Lost" Part **2**

**Title-** Survive  
**Characters-** Arsenal  
**Prompt-** 041 Love  
**DC owns him  
Rated M  
**

He was so cold, beyond shivering, beyond feeling any pain. His whole body was numb.

Only her image kept him going. He sweet little face, that high pitched excited, little girls voice that chattered constantly in the background of his shocked mind.

For her he willed himself to go on, for her he concentrated on each and every breath he took...It was his love for her that warmed him deep inside.

She was his whole world, his reason for living...the force that drove him to fight to survive.

**Title**- Enemies  
**Characters**- Deathstroke  
**Prompt**- 097 Wrters choice- Indifference  
**DC owns her  
Rated M  
**

He stood silently, watching the struggle for life that was being played out before him.

There was **nothing** that drove him to try to help, not the slightest twinge of compassion lived within his heart. He was completely indifferent to the young archer's suffering.

One less hero in the world, one less enemy to cross paths with..and he didn't even have to go to the effort of eliminating this one himself.

The near lifeless hero whispered a word..It was uttered so quietly that even enhanced senses could not make it out.

Something moved him to move closer as the young man spoke again. "_Lian_..."

**Title**- Fear  
**Characters**- Lian, Dinah  
**Prompt**- 058 Tears  
**DC owns them  
Rated M**

She snuggled into her Aunty Dinah's arms, trying hard not to cry. She knew her daddy was missing, and even the words of reassurance those around her murmured didn't ease the worrying ache in her heart.

She wanted it to be _okay _just like Uncle Ollie said it would be...

But she was old enough now to know the dangers her father faced in his work..She was old enough to know that one day he might _never _come home to her again.

Maybe this was that day..

Maybe she would never see him again..

She couldn't hold the tears back any more..


	3. Chapter 3

**Part 3, Christmas Lost. AU drabble series.**

**Title**- Chritmas Lost  
**Characters**- Dinah  
**Prompt**- 009 Pain  
**DC owns her  
Rated M**

She couldn't hold back her own tears, as the little girl sobbed in her arms.

Telling this precious baby her daddy wouldn't _ever _be coming home again, was one of the hardest things she'd had to do in her life, and hearing her sobs was the most heartbreaking sound she had _ever _heard.

Christmas should be a time for happiness. The house should echo with laughter, and happy chatter...But instead it resounded with shattered lives, and broken hearts.

Presents that should have brought joyful squeals of delight sat unopened under the tree...Christmas would never be a time of joy ever again..it would forever by tainted by pain and heartbreak...

Christmas had been lost.

**Title-** Heartbreak  
**Characters- Ollie, Dinah, Lian  
Prompt- 011 Promise  
DC owns them  
Rated M**

His heart was breaking as he watched her sob.

There was nothing he could do to ease her distress. This wasn't fair and it wasn't right...It should have been _him_, not his boy.

Not his son who had so much to live for.

The building had been completely destroyed in the fire. The heat had been so intense that nothing could be recognised, not the rooms, not the furniture..and not the body, that the men they had tracked down had said was inside.

He reached for her, surprised when she moved without hesitation from Dinah's arms into his.

Holding her close he remembered the promise he'd made to his son..the one he had hoped he'd never need to fill.

He'd take care of his boy's little girl..He'd always be here for her, just as he had sworn he would.

**Title-** Only Two  
**Characters- Dick, Donna  
Prompt- 041 Friend  
DC owns them  
Rated M**

He'd felt sick when he'd heard. At first he hadn't been able to accept it. There was no way he couldn't believe it.

Not Roy, not his vibrant, carefree friend who loved life so much..who had so very much to live for.

But he had no choice but to believe, especially now as Donna sobbed in his arms.

He couldn't even find the words to try and comfort her, his own pain was too great.

They where all that were left of the original five. Just the two of them...But for how much longer?

Which one of them would be the next to go.


	4. Chapter 4

**Part 4 Christmas Lost drabble series- AU fic..no real canon.**

**Title**- Farewell  
**Characters**- **General  
Prompt**- **025 Goodbye  
DC owns all characters  
Rated M**

They didn't even have a body to put in the casket, just memories, that for now, brought with them unbearable pain.

One week after he had been lost there had been a public memorial service, Roy was, after all..an '_out_' hero, he hadn't had a secret identity for a long time, and he'd saved the lives of many, who now wanted to say goodbye.

That service hadn't been unattended by the heroes that faught side by side with him, a seperate service held on Titans island in the shadow of the tower had been arranged for them.

But for those that knew him even more intimately, a private gathering had been held in the only place fitting, the place the young man grew up, the place he referred to untill his death, as '_home_'...Arizona.

**Title-** Moving On  
**Characters- General  
Prompt- 008 Life  
DC owns all characters  
Rated M**

Their world had been turned upside down. Lian was completely and utterly lost without her father.

The times she woke in the middle of the night, crying out words in Dineh that neither Ollie, nor Dinah could understand, were the hardest.They were words her father had taught her, words Ollie knew she still heard him whispering to her in her dreams.

Dinah had moved into his home temperarily in order to be closer to the little girl that needed them both. Their lives were put on hold..lives that could never be the same again.

Connor and Mia stayed in the background as much as possible, helpless to know how to help..knowing only time could ease the pain.

They showed their support by throwing themselves into work, taking on Green Arrows patrol as well as their own, freeing Ollie to be where he should be, and giveing themselves something else to focus on to distract them from their own greif

**Title-** Struggle  
**Characters- Slade Wilson  
Prompt- 100 Writers Choice- Fight  
DC owns all characters  
Rated M**

It had been a long, hard battle for survival for the young Archer. He had been kept sedated, semi comatose for full a week, in an attempt to allow his seriously injured body to begin to heal.

Even now, when the medication was slowly being reduced to allow him to regain consciouness, there was still some question over whether he would have the strength to continue the fight for life.

According to the doctor It was still very much a waiting game, waiting to see if he would live or die.

Slade listened carefully to the doctors words, his one blue eye settling on the pale face of the sleeping hero.

He remembered times when he'd met this young man in battle..even the odd occasion they had faught on the same side. He wasn't the strongest of heros, he had no super powers or metahuman DNA to assist him. But the redhead had more determination then many others he had met, the kid had balls, no doubt about it...

He doubted Harper had ever given up a fight in his life, and he wouldn't start now.. He'd live, Slade didn't question that for a moment, besides, he now had plans for this young man..


	5. Chapter 5

**Title**- Closed Off  
**Characters**- **Dick Grayson  
Prompt**- **017 Fear  
DC owns all characters  
Rated M**

Every time it happened he faced this, the hurt, the fear of losing more..the overwhelming, irrational guilt that maybe there may have been a way for him to prevent it.

He knew it wasn't the case this time, Roy hadn't been under his leadership when he'd died, but that knowledge still didn't stop the feelings that gripped him tightly, refusing to let him go.

There'd been so many that he'd been close to that had been taken from him. He knew there'd be more, that certainty, and the fear of facing this yet again twisted his stomach into painful knots.

There was merit in his mentor's closed off attitude, his emotional detachment from those around him. By not letting others into his heart anymore, maybe he could prevent a little of this hurt in the future.

**Title-** Too Late  
**Characters- Donna Troy  
Prompt- 072 Sorrow  
DC owns all characters  
Rated M**

Too, much..it was_ too much _to bear.

She knew, with the dangers they all faced every time they donned their costumes, that there was always the possibility that this was the way things would end..more than a possibility...a high likelihood. But that knowledge did nothing to prepare her for the eventuality of death, not when it was someone who had secured his place forever in her heart.

Roy was gone, and it was only now that she ached for the lost time..for what might have been if she had followed her heart, and never turned him away.

She had loved him as more than just a _'brother'_, a team mate, and a friend. But she'd never fully understood that..until now...when it was too late.

**Title-** Strength  
**Characters- Dinah Lance  
Prompt- 073 Cry/Tears  
DC owns all characters  
Rated M  
**

She didn't know what she felt anymore, the grief was now intermingling with anger.

Anger at Roy for leaving them this way..anger at Ollie for asking her Boyo to follow that case up on Christmas eve, when he should have been at home, warm and safe with his family...and anger at herself for feeling that way ,when she knew just how devastated Ollie was.

She tried to stay strong, never once mentioning those secret feelings of anger, keeping them hidden so as not to cause more pain. She knew the feelings were irrational, but she just could not seem to stop them.

She carried her pain inside, hidden away from others, not wanting Lian to see the hurt she carried as well. She had to be the strength the little girl needed, she had to be the one that held them all together.

And when she could no longer hide the pain inside, she would slip into the gym, where no one could see, and work out until she had no strength left at all.

And then, she would sink to the floor, trembling, and let the tears come.


	6. Chapter 6

**Christmas Lost drabble fic series- 1st ficlet**

**Title**- Trust  
**Characters**- Roy, Slade  
**Prompt**- 007 Awakening  
**DC owns all characters  
Rated M**

Two weeks after finding the dyeing hero, Slade was finally able to stand beside the bed and know that the green eyes that locked on him recognised him. Until now there had been only fleeting forays into awareness for the young man, and during those times confusion had clouded the archers mind so much that he could not even understand where he was, let alone remember who his savior was...but he knew him now..

"Slade."

The mercenary noted the tremor in the young man's whispered acknowledgment, the archer was weak, but he would live. "Harper."

Roy watched the white haired man quietly through half lidded eyes. He knew Slade had been responsible for his survival, he also knew Slade did _nothing_ without reason. "What do you want from me Wilson?" he whispered.

"I don't think you're fit to offer me _anything_ I might want Harper..." Slade began, he cocked his head to one side as the younger mans eyes fluttered shut, watching the archers breathing for a moment, assuring himself that the younger man hadn't fallen asleep, he was simply to weak to keep his eyes open . "You have nothing I need kid." he added, his voice softening almost imperceptibly.

"Why...?"

"Why are you here? Why did I save you?" Slade shrugged, a thoughtful look crossing his face. "Because you got lucky." He reached for a syringe that had been prepared earlier, uncapped it, and stepped towards the bed, reaching out to take hold of the redheads arm." I _can _be a generous man sometimes, Arsenal..."

Roy opened his eyes, tensing at the sight of the syringe, he struggled weakly. "What are you...? No..."

Slade paused, watching the archer for a moment, fear and uncertainty could be read in those green eyes..but something else, something that one so weak normally didn't show..._defiance_? The older man stood in silence for a moment, then a smile quirked at the corner of his lips.. "_Trust _me kid..I don't intend to harm you. I have other plans for you.  
_  
Trust him? Trust _a man who had killed more times than could be counted? Roy tried to sort the thoughts and feelings that flooded through his mind. His eyes locked on the one blue eye that stared down at him. In the end he relaxed, and gave up the effort to think clearly, the only thing he was certain of, was that despite being a murderous bastard..Slade Wilson _was _a man of his word. The decision he came to wasn't exactly trust..but it was as close as he could come, given his knowledge of the big man..

He was too weak to struggle anyway, Slade would do whatever he had in mind, with or without his _trust_...He nodded, and closed his eyes. The prick of the needle, and the warmth that rushed through his body, was followed quickly by his descent into darkness..


	7. Chapter 7

**Christmas Lost drabble fic series- 2nd ficlet**

**Title**- The Spirit of the Season  
**Characters**- Roy, Slade, Ollie  
**Prompt**- 051 Late  
**DC owns all characters  
Rated M**

A light sprinkle of rain could be felt in the cold, gusty wind that blew across the city rooftop. Deathstroke frowned, looking around for a more protected alcove in which to settle the sedated figure in his arms.

He eventually set the young man down in the stairwell, making sure the blanket the redhead was wrapped in was secure, and he was well protected from the wind and rain, he'd gone to too much trouble to risk the archer going backwards in his recovery.

Once that was done, he retrieved Arsenal's cell phone from one of the pouches in his belt, he'd taken a great deal of time to figure out the security code that blocked access to it..but he'd managed to do so.

He flipped open the phone, and punched in a number, waiting for someone to pick up at the other end.

Before the recipient of the call could answer, Slade spoke.."Queen?..It is Queen when you're at home isn't it? _Green Arrow_." he found an odd sense of satisfaction at the sharp intake of breath he heard at his words.

"Who the _hell _is this? How'd you get this number?"

Deathstroke's voice was devoid of the amusement he felt at the archers reaction."That's of little importance..lets just say I have my methods."

"I _asked _who this is?"

"You'll figure it out..I haven't got time to play games with you Arrow...The Central building, corner of West and Talford. There's an item of interest to you in the stairwell..."

"What the fuck do you..."

"Tell your granddaughter I said Santa didn't forget about her...better late than never."

As he snapped the cell phone shut a surge of melancholy washed over him, too many kids were forced to spend Christmas without their fathers, and too many fathers would _never _get to spend Christmas with their children again...

He'd spent far too many Christmas's with only a glass of whisky and a few photo's of his own boy's to warm is soul...with just his memories of the family he'd lost for company.

He turned to take one last look at the sleeping archer, one little girl would still have her father..one family would still have each other. At least untill he next met the archer in battle.

A wry smile twisted at the corners of his lips. "Merry Christmas Harper." and with that, he turned, and dissapeared into the night.

end 

**Well, you didn't really expect me to not give Lian back her daddy at Christmas time LOL.**

**Anyway, this part was meant to be the final, but a freind on Lj requested two more longish drabbles that showed Lian and Dinah's reaction to getting Roy back...I'll post them here as well **


	8. Chapter 8

**Title-** Wishes and Christmas Miracles epilogue to the Christmas Lost series.  
**Characters- Roy, Dinah, Ollie, Lian  
Prompt- 060 Happiness  
DC owns all characters  
Rated M**

Lian

She clung tightly to her Aunty Dinah's hand. Her wide brown eyes looked from her Uncle Ollie, who sat dozing in a nearbye arm chair..to the sleeping figure in the bed.

It really was _true_!

He _was _here!

She'd been asleep, and had woken up when she had heard voices..There had been a strange man in the house who was just leaving. Her Aunty Dinah had explained that the man was a doctor, and Lian had been frightened that her Uncle Ollie or her Uncle Connor or Aunt Mia had been hurt, and she had been so scared that someone else in her family might be hurt bad enough to leave her too, that she had started to cry.

But then Aunt Dinah had told her that the doctor hadn't come for them, he had been to see someone else...

And she had explained just who it was he had come to see.

And Lian had just stood there, listening, and for a long moment it didn't make sense, and she had even wondered if she was still asleep and it was all just a dream.

And now..here he was, just as Aunt Dinah had told her, and her heart was beating so fast that she could hear it in her head, and she felt all funny inside, and she didn't know why..but she started to cry again.

Dinah

Tears she struggled to hold back stung her own eyes as the little girl wrapped her arms around her legs and pressed her face against her, sobbing as if her heart was broken all over again..but Dinah knew that wasn't the reason for these tears.

She pulled the little girl into her arms, and held her tight, waiting for the sobs to ease.

When they did, she wiped the tears away from the little girls cheeks and kissed her gently. Then carried her over to the bed where her father now lay awake, watching..looking stricken at not being the one to offer the comfort his baby had needed.

Ollie murmured a word of caution, but he needn't have, Lian moved carefully into her fathers arms, mindful of being gentle, he'd been injured before, she knew she needed to be careful around him when he was hurt.

And as the little girl stroked her fathers cheek, and told him how she had said Navajo prayers for him _each _night..how she had wished away _all _her future birthday wishes asking for him to come back..and how she had even written a letter to Santa telling him he didn't have to _ever _give her anymore presents...if only he would give her daddy back to her...

Dinah let those tears she had been holding back fall...Santa hadn't needed to read that letter, he'd already known just what this little girl wanted for Christmas. And the very next time she crossed paths with _this _particular Santa, she would thank him for giving them their very own Christmas miracle...for making _this _Christmas one of the best they'd ever had...

She just hoped that Santa was being nice, and not naughty when she did see him next, and that she wasn't forced to confront him as the adversaries they normally were..but she didn't like the chances of that being the case.

end


End file.
